Former President Donald J. Trump return to Xthe social media platform formerly known as Twitter, on Thursday night after a hiatus of more than two years.
Mr. posted. Trump a link to his website and a photo of his mug shot in his first new post on X since Twitter banned his account after the riots at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. “Don’t give up!” read the caption under the mug shot.
Mr. returned. Trump on X a day after airing an interview he gave with Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News host, who now streams his talk shows on the service. The interview aired as the other Republican candidates for president took part in their first debate on Wednesday night.
When Twitter stopped Mr. Trump, the company said, has glorified violence in his posts on the platform, encouraging his supporters to attack the Capitol. But Elon Musk, a self-described “free speech absolutist” who bought the social network for $44 billion in October and recently turned it around, said the ban on Mr. Trump is a mistake. He returned the account of Mr. Trump in November, though it has fallen asleep since then.
Mr. Trump has relied on Twitter as a megaphone for years, using the platform to attack opponents, rally supporters and issue policy directives. After the ban, he helped start his own social network, Truth Social.
Mr. Trump has a financial stake in Truth Social and is obligated to make his posts available exclusively on the service for six hours before sharing them on other sites, according to a filing including the Securities and Exchange Commission. He can post immediately on any site if the messages involve political messaging, fund-raising or get-out-the-vote initiatives. Mr. Trump has a huge Twitter following — 86.5 million people, compared to just 6.5 million who follow his Truth Social account.
After Mr. Musk bought the company, Mr. Trump said he would not return to Twitter, adding that he preferred Truth Social. He also mocked Mr. Musk last year when the Tesla chief executive threatened to back out of the Twitter acquisition, saying in a Post by Truth Social that Mr. Musk is overpaying for the platform and begged him for help with “his many subsidized projects, whether it’s electric cars that don’t drive much, driverless cars that crash, or rocketships to where.”
